kline
Illustration — Votive relief showing a funerary banquet, 5th century BC. The dead man is shown as a heroized man lying on a klinē. On display in Room 19–20 of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Klinai (Greek: κλίνη klinē), known in Latin as lectus triclinaris, were a type of ancient furniture used by the ancient Greeks in their symposia and by the ancient Romans in their somewhat different convivia.
Also recorded as klinai · lectus triclinaris
kline
Marie-Lan Nguyen (2005) · Public domain
- Field
- ancient furniture
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getty · 500351514 · gnd · 4581202-0 · wikidata · Q922892
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In the later part of the Hellenistic period, an arrangement of three klinai positioned in a 'U' shape developed, which together formed the triclinium. Each kline of a triclinium offered room for three diners. The seating arrangement of the reclining dinner guests was given a strict significance. A two-klinai arrangement created a biclinium, with the two couches either at a right angle or facing each other. Biclinium (biclinia) may also mean a dining couch for two persons in ancient Rome.
Kline is an ancient furniture.
Silenus playing the aulos before reclining Dionysos. Attic black-figure lekythos, late 6th–early 5th century BC.
Marie-Lan Nguyen (User:Jastrow), 2008-08-26
Apulian red-figure Situla by the Varrese
Marcus Cyron · Self-photographed
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Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Klinē, revision 1346821338 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
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1- ancient furnitureTerminology
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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